


Performance for the Master

by ahzwei



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Voodoo dolls, hinted kouginaka, somewhat similar to that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-07 18:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12238626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahzwei/pseuds/ahzwei
Summary: Who knew that using straw dolls was easier?





	Performance for the Master

The recent crime scene was  _odd_.

First, there was no trace of sharp objects used to ravage the body of the victim; eyes wide open, deformed limbs, broken tooth, blood splash all over. Kougami believed the victim had a few seconds to live before meeting his demise. 

Who knows how long he stayed like this, maybe hours or weeks.

This isn't the first time the department had to deal with unconventional cases.

The bots have scanned the entire house, not leaving anything out but nothing came up.

It's like they died out of the blue.

"Damnit."

Kougami leaves the house to catch up with the team who still cannot figure out who the culprit is. 

"Have you found anything Kougami?" asked Akane.

Kougami shakes his head. No words.

They left. Akane and Ginoza were already settled, waiting for Kougami to drive. All was silence during the ride, lost in mind as usual. 

But the main issue is...who is behind all of this?

 -

Makishima lay his eyes on the book he is currently reading, comfortably seating in the couch feeling the nearly ripped old paper. Appearance hold no importance if it contains writing.

Looks like he found authors whose stories had predicted the future.

He never read any of these books before, his memory doesn't trick him if it got the chance, names of the many titles flow and hasn't abandoned his favorite quotes for certain purposes. The books are rather interesting and just the perfect tools to further what he needs to do. Nothing can replace a classic book such as 1984, a guidebook that predicted the dangers of authoritarianism; taught by many generations warning others how this can happen at any moment.

Now these are rare ones, not because they are prohibited but finding a translated copy is hard to find. Makishima doesn’t know any language aside his mother tongue. He was lucky enough to find them in a hidden library with few international books from turning into ashes.

He was surprised how the works of Karin Boye and Yevgeny Zamyatin mirrors Orwell’s before the publication of his book.

" _I knew that if I want to talk now, it must be in a new way that I was not yet ready for. The layers of myself, which would now be spoken, had never previously formed any words."_  

" _All these things were revolving wildly, tearing my flesh, rotating wildly beneath the molten surface, there where the "soul" is located."_

Words described so accurately for the mere sheep blindly following orders finding a part of themselves. How can humanity abandon its own creations?

Makishima told himself that even masters can be foolish enough to forsaken works of their forefathers.

Using just his razor straight to fight his enemies was fun and miss his days with it, but this is not the time for it as he has now found a useful weapon. 

Testing the first person was a piece of cake, the fear in their eyes proves it.

Makishima turned his head left to look at the small figures on display, new companions he created each taking thirty precious minutes to make, but manage to not keep himself bored by having Gu-sung read out Orwell to him. The work wasn't hard as they were nothing but stray, sharing the names of people on his list to kill. The brand new are his new targets. 

Unlike his other victims, the dolls are given resemble features. 

His sweet smile grows into a menacing smirk, "Now with the police stuck with guesses, they will come in handy." 

-

"Here you go."

Akane gives the cup with small amount of whisky to Kougami, who is highlighting important details about their recent case. Another similar murder occurred, this was the fifth in the fourth week.

Ginoza comes back from the other room, sits next to Kougami and Akane.

They still haven't found anything.

Just what is happening in the city?

"I still couldn't find a single clue on who or what did it." Kougami added to start a conversation.

"It's like the murders happened out of nowhere." said Akane, "What do you guys think is happening?"

Silence.

This is not what it’s supposed to be. The public would lose trust on them.

“Let’s work on this tomorrow. You two have a good night.”

Akane lower down to kiss Kougami, with Ginoza doing the same. Before they left, Kougami stands up and in time to open the door for them. "You know, this might be a ghost we're dealing..."

Ginoza hissed, “You still haven’t changed at all…”

They left.

-

Another one.

Expect this time, bits of straw were found under the table, covered in blood. From the looks of it, the rotten corpse was different than the previous, insides nearly appearing under his throat.

It didn’t belong to him either, which means someone must have come in and killed him.

Kougami guessed the victim was able to fight back before knowing his time was up and clearly wasn’t stupid enough to eat something that can endanger his body, it’s undoubtable to be a suicide.

Whoever is doing this must be good at games.

Kunizuka find footages from the security cameras and on the screen of her computer shows the victim with another - back facing the cameras so they cannot what he looks like - one thing they all notice is the stranger seem to be holding something, the victim looks scared and runs towards the stranger to pull whatever they’re holding until he steps back to hold his neck with red showing then falls into the floor with more blood coming out of his throat.

What’s creepier is that the stranger was just standing there the whole time.

This can’t be a ghost they’re hunting down.

No, this all looked too real to be fake.

-

"You mean people used to play with them? for what?"

"It's from old folklore."

"Doesn't it require a spirit to possess it?"

"I don't believe in the supernatural, the spirit doesn't possess the person. How can we prove a dead person walks around to live like an everyday human? If that was the case then I wouldn't be doing what I do right now..." 

To someone like Makishima, supernatural stories were the same as fairy tales, holding no importance on the currency of their times and don't line up with the books he'd have read. 

But Gu-sung does, he believes the undead hasn’t left the world after ruins. But he is fascinated by Makishima’s sense of literature and how it influences his way of thinking to view the world. 

“You are ordinary and I’m happy I was able to meet you.”

“Glad to hear that from you, we can talk more but I’m afraid our guests have arrived.”

-

Never would this day come and took less than a year to get this far. Kougami remember the days of investigating cases remaining unsolved for decades without a single piece of evidence found. Just like a mystery. He thought this one would be place in the same files until the team was able to find pieces of straw - along with video footage - to scan and find the label and shops who sell them with the help of Karanomori. Some of the owners had been able to identify some costumers. Almost all of them describe a young man wearing almost all white and speaks unusually like a poet. The next few days, pieces of straw appeared on Kougami’s desk, underneath was a note, an address.

An old building, the team split into groups to avoid a possible trap. Akane taking Kougami and Ginoza to check the first floor.

They took the front door on their left which leads them to a big open room that hold to fifty people.

Empty.

“This is the police! You are under arrest! Show yourself!” Akane ordered. 

Kougami was the first to hear a thud behind, turns around to see a man with long purple hair covering one of his eyes smirking, he rushes towards the door followed by Ginoza and Akane to chase the man until he closes the door only to hit by wood.

Ginoza twists the knob and it cannot open then all three kicks and pushes break the door open.

Locked.

Kougami used all his remaining strength to break the door open before losing it with the shorten of breathing. 

"Fuck! we're trapped!"

The three remain silent to think of a way out, but progress was put into halt when they hear footsteps. Not too far either. 

Seems they found themselves in the murder's cage. 

Heads twist. There he was...a man with median white hair wearing unusual clothing.

“You must be who we are looking for.” Says Kougami.

"I am Shogo Makishima. Thank you very much for coming. You came just in time to meet your new partners."

Makishima takes out a box on top of the table, opens it and reveals the straw dolls, placing them on the table. What's most shocking is the dolls almost look identical to the confused detectives. "Those dolls are supposed to be us?" Akane asks. 

Kougami wanted to laugh, "You made dolls of us? for what?"

"Of course," Makishima responded with a smile, "But they are not ordinary toys like mere sheep, I am their master and I gave them a purpose."

His smile turned into a dark twisted smirk.

"But I wouldn't be laughing if I were you..."

Before they said anything, Akane let out an almost choked gasp when her right arm face directed to where Makishima was holding the doll, doing the exact same thing.

"Wha-what is this?!"

"Wara ningyo...a doll to represent someone so the spirits can track them down." letting go of the Akane doll to reach out for the Ginoza one. The Akane doll floats in the air, still pointing its right arm. 

The other two barely paid attention to what Makishima was about to do next as their eyes are focusing on the Akane doll until Ginoza's left arm lifted. He couldn't bring his arm down, even if he tried. Which lead Ginoza to be scared as he no longer has control over his own body. 

"They listen to my every word and you will do the same."

Kougami places his hand on one of his pockets to take out his gun until both of his arms faces directly at the Kougami doll. 

"Oh, don’t be afraid, I am just breaking the bars of your prison."

"What are you talking about?!" snapped Kougami.

"You poor things are forbidden to do what you wish - born into a world to be nothing but sheep, living boring lives." Makishima responded, "I am giving carte blanche you were never given at birth."

"Giving us the freedom to be like you? murderers?!" snapped Ginoza.

Makishima shakes his head, "Always have to be docile like a good citizen because that is what makes Big Brother happy," continues to finish, "I must break the curse of this poisonous society described as perfect."

“What are you trying to say?” asked Akane.

“The lack of fear and individuality, us humans cannot function and grow without them. You already be making your own decisions if you knew the truth.”

He must be harsh on giving out his little gift. If they resist then it means a little push is needed to get their heads out of the sand.

“But I’m afraid little truths won’t get you to confess your positions,” The man turns to the dolls, putting them on the same order as their counterparts, "Make them dance involving every limb..."

Arms going up and down, legs going backward and forward. Three caged birds, wrapped in strings, following what the puppet master wanted them to do. They feel a dark presence every time they move, not sure where it was coming from. Maybe it was the dolls or not, they never dealt anything like this. Nothing like nausea after encountering corpses day and night on their first mission.

No, they are lost in another world. Dark candles and white clothed masks surrounding them, laughing. No sight of them outside their minds.

They are scared.

“Stop.” The dolls stay still.

Makishima walks his way towards Kougami, his finger under the dark-haired man’s chin. “I enjoyed your show.”

"You will be stopped!"

“Not until I finish what I started.”

"I'll kill you!" snapped Kougami. Shocking Akane and Ginoza.

Makishima chuckles at that, steps back. Dolls in front of him.

“Now let’s see who should go first,” turns to the dolls, picks up the Kougami doll and squeezes it.

Kougami felt like dying at any moment after feeling the pressure of his insides as Makishima squeezes the doll. Then releases it, the sounds of Kougami coughing violently is unbearable to hear.

Ginoza let out a scream when he felt his left arm being squeezed then feels it being pulled. Makishima was satisfied with his results. Before he does anything else, Akane cries out, begging for the pain of her colleagues to go away.

“Please don’t!”

Akane feels hopeless, she cannot do anything as she watches her colleagues in pain. Makishima let go of the Ginoza doll. Then she notices a light coming out in one of Makishima’s pockets, a glimpse of a razor.

“You really don’t like to see them suffer, neither do they. Death is a cruel escape…” with that places the razor into the throat of the Akane doll.

Sounds of glass breaking was enough for Makishima to run free until a sharp pain on his ankle brings him to the ground along with the straw dolls. He is caught. But he is not going to give up that easily, or at least what he thought so.

Makishima crawls to reach for the fallen dolls but was later stopped by a sudden burst of pain in the hand, slash of blood hitting into his face.

Another shot.

It’s all over.

-

With Makishima and Gu-sung taken care of, Hinakawa begin documenting what he, Kagari, and Kunizuka had encountered when dealing with Gu-sung. They had no issue trying to take him down until all of their guns ran out of ammo until Sugo came and shot Gu-sung down. Hinakawa felt a hand on his shoulder only to see Kunizuka, "There's no need for that right now. We still don't know about Makishima and what he has done."

Kougami, Ginoza, and Akane - sitting in the cold floor, not looking at anyone - haven't said a word. Kagari and Sugo checked to see for any injures, luckily there was none. However, their bodies are icy cold and instability has risen a few points. Sugo has already called ambulance.

Shimotsuki and Kunizuka move forward to where the dolls are. It is no use to control its counterparts as their master is already dead. Shimotsuki picked one of them up, surprised how alike they are, "That Makishima was using these? at least he managed to take a good damage on them if you ask me." 

"If Makishima killed them, that's nine victims now...Nine..." Hinakawa stops when he felt a chill down his spin.

“Excuse me?” asked Shimotsuki.

"Pain...well, that's what nine means..."

No one responded, they know what he was talking about.

Indeed, Makishima may be dead but his words scarred into the minds of the three detectives trapped in the depths of a dark world.

A lesson never learned...

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I wanted to write for Halloween. For any confusion, nine (or ku) is one of the unlucky numbers in Japan for having the same pronunciation as pain. 
> 
> Never read Kallocain or We.


End file.
